Monday, December 17, 2012

Accused Mafia cop
Stephen Caracappa leaves Brooklyn Federal Court after he was arraigned on new
charges in connection with the 1986 kidnapping and murder of a diamond dealer.
Caracappa and fellow retired Detective Louis Eppolito have been charged in eight
other mob slayings and of being on the Mafia payroll while working for the
NYPD. The two ex-cops have been free on $5 million bail since July 21.

It's time for the
Mafia Cops to pay up.

Federal prosecutors
are going after the disability pensions that disgraced NYPD Detectives Louis
Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa have been collecting while rotting in jail for
murder, the Daily News has learned.

The bold move by the
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office comes more than six years after they were
convicted of carrying out eight gangland hits for the Luchese crime family.

“I am surprised to see
this petition all these years later,” Eppolito’s lawyer Joseph Bondy told The
News.

Eppolito, 64, is
serving life in prison plus 100 years at the federal penitentiary in Tucson,
Ariz. Partner in crime Caracappa, 71, is doing life plus 80 years at the
federal prison in Coleman, Fla.

Judge Jack Weinstein
also slapped Eppolito with a $4.2 million fine, but the ex-cop has only paid
$300 toward the judgment, according to papers in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Caracappa has paid
$109,000 toward the fine but still owes $4.2 million with interest.Caracappa
receives a monthly pension of $5,300 and Eppolito $3,900. The pensions are
tax-free because both claimed they were disabled due to line-of-duty injuries.

Caracappa’s brother
Domenick asserted in court papers that his sister-in-law Monica Singleton
subsists on the pension. Domenick Caracappa and Singleton could not be reached
for comment.

Municipal pensions are
generally exempt from garnishment under the city administrative code, except by
the Internal Revenue Service or for alimony or child support payments.